


Like Brother Like Pokemon

by HawkAussie



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Real World, Australia, Gen, Transformation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-28
Updated: 2021-01-02
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:54:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27757240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HawkAussie/pseuds/HawkAussie
Summary: I don't know what happened, but something occurred to transform around a third of the human race on that planet into Pokemon which includes my brother who has turned into a Mawile.
Kudos: 1





	1. Prologue

History is an entity that in my eyes could be split into two sections. The first being history that can be changed with different events like world wars, assassinations and streakers. The other section like viruses and natural disasters is a process of natural elimination. It's these type of events that can shape a generation or two.

Which brings us to today, the 21st of August, a typical Wednesday for everyone here in my local area. Nothing major is happening in the world and here I was, chilling in town with my brother who wants to get another game for his collection while I am waiting outside of the store, wondering why are still here when he still has games to complete before going out to buy another one to play.

"Look, just choose a game, or wait until you make up your mind then go in," I replied as I thought about what to do after it was completed. Maybe leaving Colby at the store might be an idea. Hmm, no that is probably not the best way to go about it as the last thing I want is to be the brother who abandons his family because they were taking too long in picking a game.

After about two minutes, Colby left the store with nothing in his hands as I felt a sense of relief. Noticing that, I said, "What about we head home and continue that shiny hunt for Mawile in Ultra Sun." The main reason being hopefully a distraction from being disappointed in not getting a new game. Maybe he might get the shiny quicker than that shiny Grubbin which he hunted for about two weeks before he got it from a wild encounter.

Walking home from the store, the talk like most days about our school day and how Colby's is more structured compared to mine where I had the flexibility. About five minutes before getting home I started to slowly feel a little bit dizzy for what I assume was because of not having any water throughout the day. After taking a breather and a gulp of water from my drink bottle, I gave a solid thumbs up to Colby so that we could head home.

Walking in the front door, both Colby and I went into what we call our paradise, our beds being separated with a shared bedside table. Around those beds, featured most of our stuff which included a 3DS, Pokemon plushies of all of the Eevolutions except for Sylevon because it's not a favourite in our household. On the right wall was a bookshelf which mainly consists of old fictional books that are rarely read anymore.

"Welcome home children, how was school," a voice coming out which I assumed was from mother.

"Yeah it was alright, nothing too crazy," I responded as I started to get my stuff out of the backpack. After all, it was just a normal day that my mother didn't need to know about. Except for the fact that Colby wanted a game but that is normal for a person who wants fresh games to play. For me, I just wonder why he prefers new games compared to me who rather completes the game instead of forgetting about halfway through the game and wondering why I bought it in the first place.

Those next few hours was how a usual Wednesday would go, Colby trying to shiny hunt a Mawile in the caves of Ultra Sun while I'm here reading alternate history timelines and working out how to expand the little universe that I had created for myself.

Looking over to where Colby was sitting, I wondered if he was having any success. As I responded in a calm tone, "so any success over there?" hoping to get his attention.

"Not really," Colby responded with his eyes partly closed, later adding "but I am feeling a bit tired."

Typical Colby, always wanting to stay up late because his brother can do that even though I try not to do that often especially if I had school the following morning. "What about heading to bed as you did stay up to 11 pm last night for no apartment reason."

"Uhhh, can you take over my Mawile hunt then while I get some sleep."

Realizing that I couldn't say no, the 3DS was handed over to me hoping that I would continue his hunt. As Colby headed to the bathroom to brush his teeth. I looked over at the team that he was trying to shiny hunt with. Browsing the team, I noticed that his Pokemon were level 47 and above which had me slightly worried about accidentally knocking out a shiny if I did encounter one with these high-level Pokémon.

Heading back to the Pokemon centre, I need a particular Pokemon that when I play, I use for shiny hunting. I know that I could use any other Pokemon that knows False Swipe but sticking with one Pokemon helps out a lot instead of going through multiple Pokemon. After getting to the centre, I went over to the PC and sure enough, I saw what I was looking for with Gallade being in Box 12. By the time I had got it ready, Colby had returned and started to walk over to his bed.

"Good night Brendan," Colby responded as he lifted his sheets before getting in.

"Night Colby," I replied back. After waiting some time to make sure he was asleep, I slowly crept out of bed and walked over to my backpack. Looking through the backpack I had found what I was looking for, a purple book which didn't have anything to school. But something to get my thoughts out of the way and keep secrets. Sort of like a diary, but it's not really a diary as it didn't have any dates in the book. As I walked back to the bed, I flicked through the pages until I found an empty page and started writing my thoughts.

_21 August_

_Another day of school complete as I write under the light of the 3DS, I wonder if Colby will get a shiny tomorrow as he is due to get one with the current luck he is going including two shinies in four days. At least there is one positive and that is he doesn't have a shiny Ray yet in Pokemon Go compared to other people in the group chat who does. But it's only a matter of time until he gets it._

_The temptation of doing the work set by the teachers is something that could be a good way to pass the time. But I think, for now, the best strategy is probably to get some sleep and work on it during the bus trip to school tomorrow._

Closing the diary, I put the diary on the bedside table with the 3DS going on top. As I started to slowly close my eyes, I wondered what the day will bring tomorrow. Maybe something unusual will happen to change history as we know it.


	2. Realization

That following morning I awoke to the alarm of my phone. As I reached towards my phone, I heard that sound which was penetrating my dreams as background noise. Almost like a tune that you couldn't get out of the head after hearing it too many times. Hoping it was my imagination, I listened to where the sound was coming from. It wouldn't take long as the sound was coming from the bed beside me.

"Colby," I asked before adding, "is that you?"

After not receiving a response from Colby, I felt something was slightly off as it didn't look like Colby was in bed. Maybe he was already awake, but if that was the case then why was there a little hump that was in the middle of the bed. Was it some of the sheets which started to be bundled in while the top wasn't touched? Hmm, no that it didn't seem right as most of the sheets are routinely on the floor when he is up and about.

After about ten minutes without an appearance from Colby, I thought it was at least safe to lift the sheets and work out what was underneath. Picking it up from the bottom, I gradually started to lift the sheets of his bed quietly, hoping to not make much noise. As I got to around a quarter of the way through, I noticed a black shaped thing with what seemed to be teeth on the bottom of the shape.

"That's unusual," I thought as I didn't recall anything about this shape with teeth in the bedroom before. After almost placing the sheets back to how they were, I stopped. Almost of curiosity, I wanted to know what was underneath almost wanting it to be revealed. Undoing, what I had earlier done, I went past the point of no return and put the sheets onto the floor. On it, was a small pale yellow body with what looked like a skirt covering the legs. The shaped thing having a yellow circle on the top of the shape which I noticed to be something a class to a jawline.

"Is this a...Mawile, a living breathing Mawile?" I thought, seeing it breathe on Colby's bed. This didn't make sense. Last time I checked, Mawile was only in the Pokemon world, not the real world where I lived in. Unless you count Pokemon Go, but that is only in AR so that shouldn't be a problem.

As I wondered, the sounds of the sleeping Mawile sounded like a Maw, Maw sound and not a crunch sound that you hear in the games. Trying to make sense of the situation, I started to walk around the bedroom in a quiet matter, picking up my stuff along the way. As the last thing, I wanted to happen was for it to be awake and have changed behaviour due to the transformation.

After collecting my gear, I looked at the Mawile that was on the bed. I wondered how he was going to live now. As they didn't have any of the berries that were in the games. Maybe there were alternatives for berries that could work as substitutes. But what about food like meat and other items to fill the body up as that wouldn't exactly be easy to learn.

"I hope there's a way to help you," I thought as I left the room.

Pondering what to do, I arrived at the lounge area where mom was already up and ready for work. At this time of the morning, it wasn't much of a surprise to me that she would get the early shifts in the workplace. This though, felt a bit more urgent, almost as if in a panic.

"I have to go into work today," she responded before adding, "something about work colleagues not being able to go to work."

"Did they say why?" I questioned, maybe to get some more detail.

"No, I didn't hear anything about the reason, just that a couple of people weren't well and thought I could fill in."

"Ok, then. Have fun and don't annoy anyone on the phones," I responded with almost a smile on my face.

She took no notice of what I said as she headed out the front door. Before leaving, she replied, "don't forget to send Colby to school Brendan, even if you do have a break in your first period."

After she had closed the door, I walked back into the kitchen. Almost wondering how I could tell about what happened last night while we're asleep. Also what about the local high school now as the reasonable thing was probably ringing the high school and explaining that he felt ill and wouldn't be able to come in. Another option was to tell them the truth, but they wouldn't believe me in that fact, as they would think it's just complete fantasy.

After knocking over breakfast, I rang the high school to state that Colby wasn't going to come in due to not feeling well. The person on the other end though wondered if it was due to the event that happened earlier which left me confused for a bit before responding with a "no, just a general illness." Understanding what was said, she noted that down before ending the call on her end.

Wondering what that was about, I put it aside and started to set the homework that needed to be completed while the television that I had turned on being background noise while I'll work. As a person who hates working in silence, having background noise helps me to concentrate on the work that needs to be done. Flicking through the channels, I stopped at ABC News Breakfast and noticed the headlines on the bottom half of the screen.

Transformation Event

People across the world have been transformed into other beings known as Pokemon.

I couldn't believe what I was seeing, an event that somehow not just transformed my brother but some of the world population too. This almost felt like a late April Fools joke. but as I listened to the news telecast, more news seemed to make this true and not just some false prophecy that people believe in.

Continuing to watch the telecast, I noticed the slight opening of the door which led to the bedroom. The gap was only about 40 centimetres wide if I guess. Appearing in that gap, however, was the Mawile that I saw in the bedroom. This time I noticed the lack of the height with the Mawile only reaching to ¾ of the TV stand height which wouldn't help.

"Maw, Maw," said Colby as he slowly walked over to try and get on to the lounge chair that was beside me.

The tone in those Maw's didn't seem to be the happy tune that Colby usually had. With a slightly worried look, I asked, "Are you ok Colby? you seem disappointed?"

"Maw," he responded, almost as if he didn't want to be here.

Trying to be careful, I slowly went over to Colby and bent down to try and get to his eye level. That feeling of dread of not understanding him and what he was going through not helping. Despite the transformation, he was still family, despite these circumstances that occurred. I responded hoping to cheer him up, "Look, I know you probably can't understand me. But I will try and support you at this time."

With a slow nod of the head, I assume Colby partially understands what I said to him. That was at least some sign of progress, despite the difficulties of Pokemon to humans. Wondering how to help, I thought about the diary that I had left in the kitchen while breakfast. How I usually would write down my thoughts and keep them secret. Then it struck me, an idea about how to communicate and understand each other. Noticing that Mawile had 'hands', it would be easier to carry items like berries or in case a pen to write in.

"I think I have an idea of how we can communicate," I replied.

"Maw?" Colby looked with an expression of confusion that I had thought. The jaws hitting the floor which almost left Colby unbalanced but somehow held on.

"What about a book to write your thoughts in. It does mean though we would need to go out of the house to get the supplies needed for writing."

Colby gave a nod in agreement. So the idea was settled as I would walk into town after school and get a book for Colby to write in. The only issue now was how to not have anyone be freaked out about something that should only be in the Pokemon games and not in real life. I wasn't also going to just leave Colby in the house because I didn't know what he was going to do with those jaws of his.

"Okay, I think it will be more cautious if you come with me instead of going to school. That way you don't get taken by anyone we know," I explained hoping to get this attention in a good way.

"Maw," Colby responded.

Well, that is at least one problem out of the way, now to work out the rest of the problems that lie before me.


	3. College Issues

As I finished preparing my gear for college, I wondered how I was going to transport Colby outside of the home. This is because it wasn't as simple as letting it walk beside you due to the small legs that Mawile have in their DNA. They could easily fall behind, and I didn't know what might happen there if it occurred. While you can take a meter from just one step, the Mawile has to take three which after a long walk would see some distance between the two.

So the option was to leave my thickest book out of my bag and basically become a moving stool for the Mawile while I walked over to the bus stop. The issue of having a Mawile on the book is the fact that it is not light to carry. Also, the possible chance that the jaw possibly biting you uncontrollably on the hand.

With the Mawile facing me so that didn't happen, I slowly walked to the bus stop hoping no one would see me while making sure not to trip on any rocks so he wouldn't fall off the book. Once I arrived at the stop, I looked at my watch to see that I had arrived about three minutes before the bus was due to get here. With a sigh of relief, I sat down in the bus area waiting for the bus to arrive and pick me up.

"Maw, Maw?" Colby said.

I didn't know what he possibly said but I had a feeling based on his saying of the Maw's. I responded in a calm manner, "Look, it's much easier for me to carry you this way than by hand. For all I could know, you might not have control over your jaws right now. This is basically to both me and you save from each other."

Colby stayed quiet almost as if he understood what I was saying. Before long, the bus stopped with the door being opened to reveal my normal bus driver at the end of the stairs.

"College, I assume," he responded, not taking any notice of the Mawile.

"Yeah," I responded as I climbed aboard the bus with Mawile still on top of my thick book.

Passing the bus driver, I was hoping he wouldn't observe the extra baggage in a Pokemon. But that keen eye that my morning bus driver has on a morning trip saw the extra carriage that I was carrying. In a minimal tone, he replied, "Oh, I assume it's one of the people that transformed into Pokemon last night right?"

"Yeah, it's my brother," I responded as I sat down on my seat.

After the short trip over to the college, I greeted him off before getting off the bus and started to walk to the college. That short walk though was cut short with a teacher standing at the front entrance as he noticed the Mawile straight away.

"I'm sorry, but I can't let that Pokemon into the building," he responded, pointing at the Mawile.

"Wait, why isn't he allowed on the campus," I replied, confused by what he was trying to say to me.

"Isn't it obvious," the teacher responded before adding, "that is why I am asking you not to bring that thing in here."

Staying calm, I tried to reason with him about the fact that he was my brother and I couldn't really leave him at home due to possible damage costs of him being alone. The teacher though wasn't giving me the passage though. Only after speaking to another teacher about this situation, I was allowed after about fifteen minutes of being shut out of the college.

That was the least of my worries as every class I had, the teacher stopped me from going in. After explaining the same story as I did to what I would later hear as the new guard for the college, they gave me the simple exemption of being allowed but I had to keep an eye on the Mawile from breaking things. This reasoning was well reasonable as it was my brother and the last thing I wanted was to be kicked out.

Lunch though was stressful as I soon found out how easy it was for me to be distracted from the job that I had set myself in protecting Colby. This was because after going outside, I immediately saw that orange shirt that Derek usually wears on these types of days where it wasn't too hot.

"Hey, Brendan," Derek shouted trying to get my attention. I almost didn't really want to go there as the first thing he properly wanted to talk about was politics and especially at this time. This was because he was the nerd who went into that sort of area where I am just casual. But I do digress that he does know a lot and I sometimes learn about political systems of other countries that I have no interest in.

"Hello Derek," I replied before adding, "what's been happening?"

"Not at a lot, other than this transformation event that has occurred," he responded. As he looked at the Mawile that was on the book, he added, "I assume one of your family got transformed?"

"Yeah, my younger brother. So I basically have to be near him all morning," I responded, placing him down on the seat beside me. "What about you, any family that transformed?"

"No transformation in mine," he responded almost with a happy glee to his face.

"Oh, that's good I guess,"

"Did you hear about what happened to the prime minister and how he was transformed into a Kangaskhan?"

That sudden realization made me slightly confused as it almost seemed to be comical that he had transformed into a Pokemon that could easily be placed in our country. But at last here we were in that exact situation. I assumed the deputy prime minister would now take control of the country due to this unfortunate accident. That prompted more questions, and a quick check on the phone confirmed what I was theorizing with the deputy becoming the new prime minister of Australia.

Before looking over the details, Derek suddenly focused the conversation onto something other than politics. The topic now being shifted to how we were going to live now due to the appearance of real-life Pokemon now in the world. At least this meant not needing to look at the news with Colby going over to the tree and trying to bite into it with his jaws. The tree stump though was too big as Colby struggled to make a solid dent into the stump.

At the end of the lunch, I started collecting my books from the seat to head to the next class when I noticed something. At the corner of my eye, Colby had moved from his spot. He had walked over to a nearby tree stump and started to bite into it using his jaws. He had walked over to a nearby tree stump and started to bite into it using his jaws. Leaving him there for a minute, I thought about him possibly running from me and having to chase him down. Walking over though, he stood there, almost wanting to be picked up and back on the book that I was carrying.

"Maw," Colby responded as he slowly walked over to the book. For me, I ponder why I was doing this as he almost felt like he wanted to get away and just go without me. But I persisted knowing that he might still feel isolated if I enable him to be alone into the wider, dangerous world that this has become.

After getting through the final two periods of class, it was time to head back home via a brief stop in town to get supplies. One slight issue hit me, though. That being the bus driver to go into town. Compared to my morning bus driver, he looked a bit older than him with the slight grey hairs starting to come on his head. He wanted nothing of what I wanted to say about the circumstance that I was in.

This was different though as he received support from his fellow passengers and if I am, to be honest, I don't blame them. Especially when I basically possess a weapon with Colby's jaws being like teeth to a tree. After the passengers that were on the bus, wanting the driver to move on to the next stop, I sat there pondering on the walk ahead. Especially when compared to a fifteen-minute bus ride back, it was double that and that was if the traffic was good.

But going for this stroll did give me some time to think of these events that have unfolded. How before today, the main problem was war in the middle east possibly spiralling out of control into other territories nearby. Now the biggest problem we face is how we are going to restrain these once humans into Pokemon. All without having society collapsing on itself like what had already occurred in some countries.


	4. Training and Lockdowns

The following day, I started preparing for the possible future that this world was slowly heading into. Something that not even two days ago we would be in. After telling mom about what happened to Colby in his new state, she walked around the kitchen, wondering what to do now that one of her sons was one of the transforms.

“What I am going to do,” she repeated in a quiet tone.

Trying to calm her down I responded, “look, how about I help Colby with learning about his new body as I am more familiar with the Pokemon franchise. In response, you could help us by trying to act normal and not be a sad parent. Don’t worry I’m in this boat too much like other people out there.” Telling her that, I knew it wasn’t really something that she wanted to hear but this was probably the best way to go about it. The last thing that I wanted on her mind while she headed to work was worrying about one of her sons not being human anymore.

The next issue that needed to be faced was about Colby schooling. Considering the fact that Colby wasn’t really suitable to go to school because of the whole “Mawile” problem. I need to work out an idea to still get him educated while also continuing my education. I went over to mom to see if I could possibly get Colby to be homeschooled. She though didn’t really want to do that and waste the money that she spent on the schooling fees. To be honest I don’t blame her as she wanted both of us to have a good life and now… well what I can do.

Thinking through my ideas, I pondered in maybe teaching Colby myself between my breaks in school. That was a possibility but then that would probably affect my schooling as I would need to focus on two people schooling instead of focusing on myself. The problem with that though was how I was going to adapt that while completing my schooling. So I simply put that on the back burner as I rang the high school. Explaining that Colby once fell sick and won’t be able to come in for a second time before heading onto my laptop.

Browsing through the internet, I went over to Mawile’s Bulbapedia page to see what moves it could learn and how to teach those moves to Colby. As I looked at the page, I pondered if levels were a possible thing now which would relate to the moves that they know. The obvious thought process would be that level is related to age. If that was the case then his latest move would be Sweet Scent which is learned at Level 13. That theory though didn’t feel like it would make sense especially if people could learn moves quickly.

Looking over at Colby, I wondered how he was currently feeling in this situation. This was mainly for the fact that he couldn’t really see his friends now with the whole situation. As I slowly walked over, I said, “Hey Colby, you want to do some learning?”

After not getting a response which I assume meant school learning, I added onto that question from before. I simply replied with, “you know, learning moves and all that in case you are stuck.” After I had waited for a minute, he just looked at me and nodded towards me almost as if he wanted to go ahead and teach him.

Heading outside, I started to look for something suitable to use as a test for Colby in terms of biting it into two pieces. to possibly use Colby’s jaws but large enough that it wouldn’t snap with enough pressure from the hands to break. Looking around, I noticed a branch that had fallen down from what I assumed was the heavy winds that happened in the area over the past week. After making sure it wasn’t too heavy to lift back inside, I walked back inside the house, attempting to not give away what I was thinking of doing. Once I arrived back in the kitchen area, I saw that Colby was waiting just outside the room waiting for me to come back.

“Ok, this might sound weird but I want you to try and snap this branch in two,” I responded, showing the branch that I found.

In response, Colby picked it up and tried to initially break the branch using his figures but as I suspect, it wouldn’t budge. He tried again but much like the first attempt, the branch stayed firm without showing signs of breakage. It wasn’t until I explained to use his jaws that he lifted the branch into his jaws. Or until it was as far as he figures could reach with only the end of the branch touching the back of his body. That edge was enough as I heard a sound which I assume came from the jaw hitting the branch.

“Yay, for it kind of working I guess,” I said with my hands in the air. Before I realized that the branch hadn’t quite gone through the jaws and it was stuck with it being half inside of one of the jaw’s teeth. So here I am trying to get this branch out without it possibly snapping onto my head. Much like a bear trap that hasn’t been set off.

After about ten or so minutes of trying to get loose, the branch slightly moved enough to get loose from the jaw. Once released it snapped shut and I had a sigh of relief that my hand wasn’t in there when that happened as I didn’t know how hard they would be.

“Hmm, maybe attempting a move right now wasn’t really a good move. Especially with the experience of only being a Mawile for two days,” I thought as I tried to look about how to fix this issue that had appeared before me. Maybe the best plan was to have no plan and work out something on the fly especially if the world goes to complete chaos.

Checking through my messages, I noticed that I had some unread messages from my friends. Now usually, I like to try and avoid sending messages during school hours and check them at break. After looking at what the time was, I probably figured that they would probably have just finished lunch and started to head to their afternoon classes.

"Did you hear about what just happened," one of the messages said. This didn't really concern me until I noticed the link that the person had sent me. A link that I couldn’t recognize as something that I browse every day.

Refusing to click on it, I quickly message him back asking where the link leads and hoping that it wasn't a scam. As I checked through the rest of the messages, most of them seem to be normal with my local Pokemon group being awkwardly quiet for a Friday. The few messages that were sent in the meantime being all about the game being down. That is kind of obvious considering that the literal way to play is sort of more dangerous now due to the event.

Watching the news later that night, I heard about the new measures that Michael McCormack brought in to slow down the possible influence of the Elementals from entering the country. Following on from New Zealand action earlier in the day, the international borders were going to be closed starting from Monday so to get the remaining Australians back home. Once that is enforced, I can’t see how this would be a positive as you have flying and water Pokemon that aren't bound to borders and can pass right on by.

Hearing the kitchen door open I heard mom respond with, “Hey Brendan, how was your day?”

“It was ok, trying to keep Colby from wrecking the house,” I responded.

"Ok, well work was busy due to more people being absent. Especially with new rules being enforced now."

I stayed quiet as she explained that new policies have been created due to this transforming event. This has all employees that had come into contact with the elemental now having to stay away from work so as not to infect others. Which in theory sounds good until you realize that it puts more pressure on the people that weren't touched by an elemental to pick up the work. So yeah not too good.

After dinner, I went back into my bedroom with that lingering thought about that message. Checking it a second time, I noticed that it came from a phone number that I didn’t recognize. The only clue being that it came from Australia. You would assume that it would be a scam and for most scenarios that would be right. Except when I posted that into my local chat, they had nothing to relate back to as they haven’t seen that type before. Of course, I thought about writing in the diary entry but thought otherwise:

_ August 23, 2019 _

_ So my first run trying to train Colby in learning some moves sort of didn’t work as he didn’t bite through the branch that I found outside. It could be because he hasn’t had that experience in using those jaws. It also looks like the country has now been locked down which is great I assume but isn’t going to be helpful for most people in this type of scenario. _

_ Now it is just a waiting game, to see what Adam will do for the state considering Victoria has had their first day in full lockdown mode. The rest of the country on the other hand is open, for now, but probably working behind the scenes to consider the best for the country. _

I am just hoping that it wouldn’t be the last time that I need to worry about stuff happening outside. Maybe this will be a positive for us, but I don’t think it will.


End file.
